My husband is awesome! And my belly is adorable!

Starting in April, Randy starting digging holes for our fence. He made the plans, ordered the wood, and got to work. We had a ton of rain in April and May, which slowed down the progress, but he kept going at it. Often times working for several hours after getting done with a full day's work at IU. Notice also how he dug out all under the fence and put down paving stones so that it will be easier to mow up to the fence. Over Memorial Day weekend, he worked non-stop on setting the posts, starting the pickets and getting the two gates complete. Today, Saturday, June 4, he completed the last picket before lunch today! We celebrated by going out for ice cream as a family to Chocolate Moose. 

Here is a picture of Randy putting up the last few pickets. I think he totally deserves a back massage tonight! Great job Sweetie! 

Earlier this week, my very talented friend Abra took some pictures of me, my belly and my girls. We plan on this being our last time pregnant, and I just wanted to capture some belly pictures. I have loved being pregnant and have been blessed with very easy pregnancies. Although I treasure these moments of feeling this little boy kick, I really want to meet him soon! And so does his daddy and his big sisters!

Other note-worthy thing to mention: Lydia had a full day in big girl panties with no accidents! She had tried this a few months ago...but just kept having accidents. She can totally do it, but never wanted to tell us when she had to go. Today, she must have decided that it was time to start. Kind-of crazy to do potty training when you are 39 weeks prego, but you know, we just go with the flow here in the Arnold household! It would be oh so very nice to only have two in diapers instead of three!

Anticipation!

The room is ready and we are about two weeks from baby Joseph's due date. Since we didn't know the sex of Rebekah, we have pretty neutral nursery bedding. I still love the Alphabet Soup decor!

I really wouldn't mind if he decided to come a little early. The last few weeks are always the most difficult. Not because I am uncomfortable, thankfully, I have had a very easy pregnancy and besides a little heartburn once in a while, no real problems. The most difficult part of these last few weeks is the anticipation of the unknown. When will labor start? We will need a c-section? What will he look at? Will my parents make it down fast enough to watch the girls? I have enjoyed looking back at baby pictures of our girls. It has been helpful for the girls to see pictures of themselves when they were little too. Rebekah was only 15 months old when she because a big sister the first time. She was great and very loving, but really doesn't remember it much. This will be a big change for them and I have started preparing them for having to be patient while I am nursing. I thought I would share a few newborn pictures of the girls and family pictures: 

 Rebekah Sue Arnold, 8 lb 5 oz, 21 inches 

 Family of 3!

 Eve Marie Arnold, 4 lb 15 oz, 19 in

Lydia Mae Arnold 5 lb 6 oz, 19 in

Family of 5!

As we wait for this little new blessing, we are reminded that we need to rest assured in God's timing. 

Kitchen's Done!

Here are a few before images just so you see what we started with:

And now, here are the after pictures:

We still have a few small things like putting outlet covers back on and finishing putting back a few boxes of kitchen stuff. Overall it seems like we have more room as far as cabinets go. The only layout change was moving the fridge, but it makes a big difference in the feel of the room!

Kitchen after week 1

Here is how we left the kitchen before our week in Michigan. I need to finish uploading the finished product pictures and get them up too. The counter top is in and we have almost everything put away. In addition to the kitchen being done, we also had to have the roof shingled. Not what we really wanted to do now, but with all the rain in April, we found a water spot above Lydia's bed. We will wait until the fall to have the porch and garage roof re-done.

Kitchen counter tops were installed before we left for Michigan

Looking good so far.

Week in Michigan

While our kitchen was getting remodeled last week, we headed up to Grand Rapids to spend time with family. My mom and dad were so gracious in putting up with us and our mess and all the craziness that comes with a family of 5 with three toddlers.

Here is a brief snapshot in opposite order...since this is the way the pictures loaded. Oh, and sadly, my camera battery died during the week and I didn't have my charger around. I missed pictures of Kara's bridal shower, but should be able to get some from others. I think we also missed out on taking pictures of our adult dinner out at the BOB celebrating David's graduation and birthday!

We went to Grand Haven and let the girls put their feet in the water. They had so much fun splashing, throwing rocks and washed up pieces of wood back into the water. They would have stayed for hours. I can't wait to go back to the beach with our bathing suits and warmer water!

Picture didn't turn out that well, but what would be a trip to Michigan without going to Robinette's Apple Orchard for donuts! We even got to meet up with my friend Melissa and her 3 kiddos. The day before we met up with Melissa and Gretchen and all our kids at a park. I forgot my camera for this and sunscreen too--good thing Melissa is more prepared. I need to get sunscreen and a first aid kit packed in my diaper bag for summer and all our trips out to parks.

My mom took Kelly and I to the Fredrick Meijer Garden's with the kids. The flowers were beautiful and the kids loved splashing around in the Children's Garden.

The kids had a great time at John Ball Park Zoo. Kelly kept saying it isn't as big as the Indy Zoo, but it really is a nice zoo and has some things that the Indy one doesn't. The kids loved the lions (or as Harrison calls them, Aslan). Check out Rebekah's goo-goo goggles.

We went to the Holland Tulip Festival and the kids got to pet some animals and see some tulips.

Baby Arnold at 35 weeks and Baby Phillips at 23 weeks. It was so fun to be able to spend time with my pregnant sister Kelly and it will be great fun for our boys to be so close in age.

Happy Mother's Day. I may be worn out by the end of the day and ready for the kids to be in bed, but I am truly blessed! My girls are sweet and loving and as I write, this new little boy is kicking me (I think he is ready to come out soon!).

Our trip to Michigan started with us watching Randy run a mini-marathon in Indy. He trained hard all winter and spring long and it was great watching him complete the race and in good time too! Way to go honey!!

What do you do when you are in Indy watching the mini with a triple stroller and a dog and need some coffee? Put the dog on the girls lap and head into the hotel where the line at the Starbucks is almost out the door. At one point, Lydia came out of the stroller and Maggie got the seat up-high. We had plenty of stares to be sure!

New Kitchen

Our kitchen remodel started on Monday! After some work by Randy and I to get everything out of the kitchen and boxed up. We also set-up a temporary kitchen in the living room. Hopefully the new kitchen will be completed in just two weeks, with us gone for one of the weeks.

Packing up the kitchen:

Temporary kitchen during remodel:

Kitchen after Day 1:

Kitchen after Day 2:

too tired to add any pictures of day 2. Only thing to change is the dry wall is up! Looking good so far. Escaped with the girls to the Children's Museum up in Indy for the day with some friends. Randy had a late day of working, so I had a very long day with the girls and am glad they are all asleep now. Ready for some ice cream!

Cloth Diapers

Randy's crazy idea a few months ago was to cloth diaper baby Joseph (yes, that is his name! Weird to type it out!). I thought after going through three girls all in disposable diapers, that it would be difficult to switch and even a little pointless since we aren't planning on more kids after 4. Since it was something Randy brought up, I thought I would at least look into it and I found that from the websites and from friends that have used cloth, that they are much better and user friendly than my initial opinion.

Why we decided to go for it?

1. It is much better for the environment. I can't even count how many diapers we have already disposed of from the girls, but at least we can start now, right?

2. Cost savings. It did cost us around $400 dollars start-up to purchase the diapers. 8 Grovia and 12 grovia inserts, 12 Rumparooz, shower sprayer to connect at the toilet, diaper bag, and some extra liners. This should be all we need for the next few years in terms of diapers! No more late night trips to Target when we run out! The estimate for a year of disposables is $1000, so overall we should cover the initial cost. In addition the resale value on the cloth diapers is pretty good, I expect to get at least 30-50% of our $400 back!

3. This one may sound counter-intuitive, but we also think cloth diapers may cut down on the smell! Our disposable system is to put the dirty diapers in the garage, which is fine in the winter, but boy is it smelly during the summer. With the cloth diapers, we will keep them in a tight fitting container in the laundry room and plan on doing laundry every other day.

Here is a picture of our diaper stash:

Now that we have the cloth diapers and the baby isn't coming until June, we thought we might as well try out cloth on Eve and Lydia. Perhaps it will even get them to be potty trained quicker! Aren't they cute in the diapers! So it has been a little over a week since they have been in cloth diapers. No more diaper buying for us. To be honest, it really isn't that hard or time consuming. Rinsing the poop is a little gross, but not more than what a mom and dad already have to deal with in handling toddlers. I can see a babysitter not wanting to rinse out a diaper, but the actual taking on and off of the cloth is easily mastered.

When the new baby comes in June, we will probably still keep all three in cloth. I don't think we will even need to buy any more diapers since Eve and Lydia are only going through 5-6 diapers each per day, but I will keep you posted.

I did not think I would turn into a cloth diaper advocate, but I would recommend at least looking into it...it is not has hard or gross as it seems!